April showers

Well I did manage to do what I set out to do today - I dug, I finished the section John started yesterday. It took a while as the heavens opened twice. I sheltered under a tree and watched hail stones bounce off next doors rhubarb leaves I also heard thunder rumbling in the distance. The baby slept in the pushchair unaware of the weather. It was amazing to watch the steam rise off the black landscaping fabric after each down pour. The earth smelled good as I dug it the rain seemed to release it's aroma.

Anyway when I got to the plot today our scarecrow was at a jaunty angle so my first job was to straighten him. Some animal had left muddy footprints on our landscaping fabric, my fears of the deadly dog return! It's sad to say that the 'surviving' peas/mange tout are well and truely dead probably from injuries sustained in the bike attack.

There is not a lot happening on our neighbours plots at the moment which is a little concerning. 16D put up a lovely shed several weeks ago now and there was talk of visiting for a cup of tea but I've not seen them since. 16B has started to clear a little strip of land but I've never seen them on any of my visits. It's funny because I thought that this time of year would be when I was most likely to see the other allotmenteers.

I did do some planting today. I found five forgotten allium bulbs which I bought in the autumn for the garden, but today I thought I'd put them in the allotment as I'm not expecting much from them now. My garden is not really sorted I'm in the process of planning what to do in it as it doesn't really work as it is and it hasn't been touched for years. (To be honest my neighbours would be shocked to know I have an allotment and interest in gardening). If anything grows from these bulbs it will be a pretty bonus.

Additional news is I have read the rules for the marrowthon, which says that the marrows must be germinated and grown on your plot. How will they know if they are sown on the plot? The variety is 'long green bush' (I''ve added a web page link on marrows to the blog which I found as part of my research yummy recipes too.) The upshot of it all is that I think we need to make a little 'marrow house' on the allotment for them to germinate in. Time to scavenge some glass etc